Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia - Captivity

Captivity

The following month all members of the Romanov family still living in Petrograd were ordered to register with the dreaded Cheka, the Soviet secret police. It was then decided that they would be sent to internal Russian exile. Nicholas Mikhailovich was sent to Vologda. On 30 March 1918, the grand duke departed by train to his destiny in the company of his personal cook and his close friend and assistant Brummer, who had insisted on going with him in spite of the Grand Duke's protestations. The following day they arrived at Vologda. Nicholas Mikhailovich and Brummer were lodged with a young couple in a two room house.

Initially he could move freely around town. His brother George and his cousin Grand Duke Dimitri Konstantinovich had also been exiled to Vologda and they visited each other frequently. Allowed to do as he pleased so long as he remained within the city limits, the grand duke occupied his time reading.

On the morning of 14 July, two days before the murder of Nicholas II and his family, a car with four heavily armed men arrived and collected the Grand Dukes from their lodgings. They were arrested and interned in a small, walled village prison where they could be more easily guarded. Brummer was not allowed to accompany them.

Nicholas Mikhailovich's cell was a large room with windows that looked out onto the courtyard. He had a camp bed that he had brought with him. He was treated well by his jailors. The French government tried to intercede on his behalf as a member of the French Academy. Brummer, his faithful assistant, tried also to gain the grand duke's release, but he could only visit him in prison. On 20 July, Brummer informed the prisoners of Nicholas II's assassination. This seemed to indicate the worst. The following day, 21 July, all of the exiled grand dukes in Vologda where transferred back to Petrograd. In the former Imperial capital, the men were quickly imprisoned with six other detainees in a cell at Cheka Headquarters.

Upon arrival, the grand dukes were questioned at length by Moisei Uritsky, the Chairman of the Petrograd Cheka. The prisoners were photographed and then moved to the Kresty prison. Shortly thereafter, they were transferred to Spalernaia prison, where they would remain for most of their incarceration. Here each had his own private cell, if only seven feet long and three feet wide. Their only furniture was a hard iron bed. The grand dukes were permitted to exercise a half hour to forty-five minutes twice a day, although the personal contact allowed in Vologda was denied them here at first. Their wardens, all of whom were soldiers, treated them well. After several days, the prisoners were allowed to gather in the courtyard and were permitted some provisions from the outside such as fresh linens and cigarettes. Their day began at 7:00 am when they were awakened by the steps in the hall of their jailors and the clank of their keys in the door. Lunch was served at noon, which consisted of dirty hot water with a few fish bones in it and black bread. The lights were turned on in the cells at 7:00 pm, although as the winter approached the prisoners had to sit in darkness until that time. The meetings of the Grand Dukes during exercise gave them opportunity to exchange a few words.

Brummer, Nicholas’ faithful adjutant, followed Nicholas Mikhailovich to Petrograd and visited him at Spalernaia prison. The secretary of the French embassy was also concerned with Nicholas’ well being. Some of the grand dukes' relatives made frantic efforts to obtain their release through Maxim Gorky who was sympathetic and asked Lenin to set them free. Gorky ultimately obtained Lenin's signature for the grand duke's release. He rushed to return to Petrograd to have them freed. On the platform however, he picked up a newspaper whose headline rang out, "Romanovs Shot!". Brummer, who had heard rumors that the grand dukes had been condemned to death, only learned the tale of the grand duke's murder years later. In exile in Paris, he encountered the grand duke's bailiff who told him what had happened.